'White supremacy is a poison,' Biden says as he calls for ending hate speech and curbing guns

Not just from the man behind the lectern bearing the seal of the president of the United States, nor from the Senate majority leader, nor the governor of New York.

For sure, President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul all called for tighter controls on military-style weapons and hate on the internet as they consoled a city still grieving over the Saturday massacre of 10 people in the Tops Market on Jefferson Avenue.

But the families of those gunned down in a racist rampage by an 18-year-old Broome County resident, affected by Saturday's events more than any living persons, echoed the idea, too. After meeting with the president and first lady Jill Biden, and expressing their appreciation for their empathy, the Buffalonians called for an end to racism, curbing guns and ending hate speech.

"He showed empathy about our situation, and assured us there will be change after this," said Ebony Thomas, whose uncle – Deacon Heyward Patterson – was gunned down Saturday. "I think there should be stricter gun control laws and making sure that people with mental health issues should not have access to guns."

Indeed, Biden delivered the same message in the strongest terms, at one point his voice breaking.

"What happened here is simple and straightforward: terrorism," he said. "Violence inflicted in the service of hate and a vicious thirst for power that defines one group of people being inherently inferior to any other group."

Hate stemming from the media, politicians and the internet have combined to radicalize those like Saturday's shooter, the president said. He especially noted those targeting minorities in the false belief that they aim to replace whites as voters.

Complete coverage: 10 killed, 3 wounded in mass shooting at Buffalo supermarket

"I call on all Americans to reject this lie," he said. "I condemn those who spread the lie for power, political gain and for profit."

Biden seemed intent on delivering a definitive speech about opposing the notion that one race is better than another. He recognized that hate at Charlottesville in 2015, he said, and resolved then to run for president in 2020. He pleaded for its end, offering that America is better than those chanting at Charlottesville or the shootings in the Tops on Jefferson Avenue.

"White supremacy is a poison," he said. "We need to say as clearly and forcefully as we can that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America. 

"This venom, this violence, cannot be the story of our time," he added.

The president said Americans can keep off the streets weapons like the one that killed 10 Buffalonians Saturday.

"We've done it before," he said, referring to the 1994 assault weapons ban that slowed their spread until the law expired in 2004.

But the president and Schumer, who authored the House version of the 1994 law, offered no real optimism on such legislation gaining approval from Republicans in Congress. Biden told national reporters before departure from Buffalo Niagara International Airport he would have "to convince Congress to go back to what I passed years ago."

"It’s going to be very difficult. But I’m not going to give up trying," he added.

Schumer, meanwhile, acknowledged to The Buffalo News on Tuesday that "we keep fighting," but also offered no predictions of success.

"We need 60 votes. We need some Republicans to come over," he said. "They've been intransigent, but maybe this will change their minds."

Schumer also referred to his Monday speech on the Senate floor, in which he said, "I called out Murdoch, Fox News and what's his name, Tucker Carlson." The senator said on Tuesday he wrote to Fox News about Carlson and his espousal of the idea that immigrants and minorities are attempting to "replace" white voters.

"I said speaking out is not enough, you've got to stop this guy," Schumer said, "because of this vicious, bigoted conspiratorial replacement theory."

Dee Davis, sister-in-law of victim Celestine Chaney, expressed the same thoughts from a different perspective. She received Facebook messages of the shooter standing over her sister-in-law, then video of the shooting.

Facebook allowed it to be up for hours.

"That should have been shut down," she added. “The video I didn't want to watch – I wake up seeing the shooting, of him shooting her in the head and finishing her off.”

Hochul, meanwhile, reiterated the strong language she has employed since Saturday calling for a curb on "military-style weapons" and hate speech permeating the internet.

"You could have that hate in your heart and you can sit in your house and ferment these evil thoughts, but you can't act on it unless you have a weapon," she said. "And that's the intersection of these two crises in our nation right now; the mainstreaming of the hate speech and the racism and everything else that brought that person to this point, but also the access to military-style weapons and magazines. It is that lethal combination that resulted in the loss of 10 decent, good people."

Jill Biden, Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Rep. Brian Higgins and Mayor Byron W. Brown also delivered remarks before a room full of about 100 people – mostly families of victims. They, too, called for change, echoing the final words of Hochul's speech.

"God give us the strength to forge ahead with the strength and conviction that justice must be done, but also changes must be made," she said. "We'll all remember that it started here in Buffalo, New York."

News Staff Reporter Maki Becker contributed to this report.